Mali’s coup leader and interim president, General Assimi Goïta, has signed a law giving himself a five-year presidential mandate that can be renewed indefinitely and requires no election, state media announced late on Thursday.
The measure, approved last week by the military-appointed National Transitional Council and published in the official gazette on 10 July, enables Goïta, 41, to stay in power until at least 2030—contradicting the junta’s original promise to hand authority back to civilians by March 2024.
Consolidating military rule
Human-rights groups say the junta has dismantled political parties, tightened control over the press and jailed critics since seizing power in a pair of coups in 2020 and 2021. Thursday’s charter revision is the latest step in what analysts describe as a slow-motion institutional takeover of the conflict-scarred Sahel state.
Under Goïta, Mali expelled French forces, terminated defence accords with Paris and deepened security and economic ties with Russia—most recently by replacing Wagner mercenaries with Moscow’s new “Africa Corps.”
In January Mali joined neighbouring juntas Burkina Faso and Niger in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation that plans to field a 5,000-strong joint force to combat jihadist insurgents and defend against what the three regimes call “external aggression.”
Opposition silenced
Mali’s main political coalitions, already suspended by decree in April, boycotted the national dialogue that produced the five-year term recommendation. Civil-society leaders warn the new law removes any remaining timetable for elections.
“This transition is now a blank cheque,” said Oumar Diarra of the pro-democracy group Anta. “Every extension will be justified by the same argument—security first.”
Government spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
What’s next?
The military says it will hold polls once “peace and territorial integrity” are restored. With more than half the country still contested by al-Qaeda- and Islamic State-linked fighters, diplomats and analysts fear Mali’s transition to civilian rule has been postponed indefinitely.